FRANKFURT — The European Central Bank cut its key interest rate to a record-low 0.5 percent Thursday and announced other measures to spur lending and help lift the euro area out of a stubborn recession.

The bank also extended its offer of unlimited, cheap loans to banks at least through July 2014. Previously, the ECB had planned to end the program as soon as this July.

The ECB lowered its benchmark refinancing rate from 0.75 percent, as expected, at a meeting of its rate-setting council in Bratislava, Slovakia.

ECB president Mario Draghi said the bank was prepared to flex its muscles further in the face of high and rising unemployment and growing evidence that Europe’s economy is getting weaker. He said the ECB stood “ready to act if needed.”

Eager to jolt banks into lending more freely, Draghi said the ECB would even consider charging banks to deposit funds with the ECB. Since 2008, the ECB has reduced the interest rate it pays to banks on deposits from 3.25 percent to zero, creating an incentive for them to lend that money out instead.

Together, the measures announced Thursday by the ECB amounted to a grim recognition: Despite record-low interest rates, European banks still remain cautious about lending.

Draghi also delivered a warning to Europe’s political leaders: Extraordinary actions by the ECB will not be enough to heal the region’s economy. Governments need to accelerate efforts to cut excessive regulations and make Europe a more hospitable place for business.

The owners of Boulder’s Sterling University Peaks apartments, who this summer were cited for illegally subdividing 92 bedrooms in the complex, have reached an agreement to settle the case for $410,000, the city announced Thursday.